40 years ago: Oread house burns down just before scheduled demolition

A vacant house at 1239 Oread Ave., owned by the Kansas University Endowment Association, had been slated for demolition this week, but an arsonist had gotten there first. The fire alarm had been turned in at about 8:50 p.m. by a KU policeman; police at the scene said that about half a dozen people had been throwing rocks through the windows of the burning structure and of another property across the street at the time the fire began. Officials said that the blaze, which had begun in the northeast corner of the house, had spread quickly and rapidly engulfed the house. Hundreds of spectators had watched as firefighters managed to keep the flames away from the Mount Oread Bar and Grill, where patrons of "Pitcher Night" were evacuated until after 10 p.m.

Virgil Reeves, mayor of Baldwin City, was among those taking issue with the results of the latest county agricultural census, which showed his city losing 110 members of its population over the past year. "The figures have got to be wrong somewhere," Reeves said. "There have been several houses built here in the last year, but there is not a single one empty. We had nine families move in here from Olathe this year." Deputy county assessor Fred Purvis said today that the Baldwin census had been taken on a door-to-door basis and should have been accurate.